
Orson Welles
Biography
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased. He has been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."
After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth and The Cradle Will Rock, Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety.
Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces.
In 2002, he was voted the greatest film director of all time in two separate British Film Institute polls among directors and critics, and a wide survey of critical consensus, best-of lists, and historical retrospectives calls him the most acclaimed director of all time. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Well known for his baritone voice, Welles was also an extremely well regarded actor and was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest American film actors of all time. He was also a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor and an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.
Acting (243 movies)

Citizen Kane
1941

A Man for All Seasons
1966

The Magnificent Ambersons
1942

Chimes at Midnight
1965

The Third Man
1949

Touch of Evil
1958

History of the World: Part I
1981

Twelve Plus One
1969

The Trial
1962

The Transformers: The Movie
1986

Moby Dick
1956

Catch-22
1970

The Lady from Shanghai
1947

Is Paris Burning?
1966

The Stranger
1946

And Then There Were None
1974

House of Cards
1968

Journey into Fear
1943

Treasure Island
1972

The Deep
2007

Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees
1965

Jane Eyre
1943

Don Quixote
1992

According to Occam's Razor
1999

Welles' Language
1990

Celebração - 100 Anos do Cinema Nacional
1997

Casino Royale
1967

Waterloo
1970

Follow the Boys
1944

The Battle of Neretva
1969

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
1975

Macbeth
1948

Butterfly
1982

The Long, Hot Summer
1958

Compulsion
1959

Necromancy
1972

The Vikings
1958

F for Fake
1973

Napoleon
1955

The V.I.P.s
1963

American: An Odyssey to 1947
2022

The Black Rose
1950

The Southern Star
1969

Prince of Foxes
1949

From Introduction to Orson Welles’s Falstaff: Chimes at Midnight
2023

Mr. Arkadin
1955

Tomorrow Is Forever
1946

Three Cases of Murder
1955

The Kremlin Letter
1970

Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
2014

Malpertuis
1972

Othello
1951

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
1981

Royal Affairs in Versailles
1954

Orson Welles: The One-Man Band
1995

The Biggest Battle
1978

The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
2003

Tepepa
1969

The Secret of Nikola Tesla
1980

Slapstick of Another Kind
1982

A Safe Place
1971

Hot Tomorrows
1977

Trent's Last Case
1952

Ten Days' Wonder
1971

The Immortal Story
1968

Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil"
2019

The Late Great Planet Earth
1978

Voyage of the Damned
1976

David and Goliath
1960

Black Magic
1949

It's All True
1993

Ferry to Hong Kong
1959

Ro.Go.Pa.G.
1963

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
2021

Get to Know Your Rabbit
1972

The Fountain of Youth
1958

The Force Beyond
1977

The Spanish Earth
1937

The Witching
1983

Marco the Magnificent
1965

It Happened One Christmas
1977

Filming Othello
1978

Mysterious Castles of Clay
1978

I'll Never Forget What's'isname
1967

Trouble in the Glen
1954

Where Is Parsifal?
1984

Return to Glennascaul
1953

It's All Brazil
1997

Parkinson at 50
2021

The Road to Bresson
1984

Too Much Johnson
1934

The Tartars
1961

Is It Always Right to Be Right?
1970

Hot Money
1983

Man, Beast and Virtue
1953

Someone to Love
1987

The Fight for Rome
1968

Magic with the Stars
1982

The Cave: a parable told by Orson Welles
1973

King Lear
1953
Directing (44 movies)

Citizen Kane
1941

The Magnificent Ambersons
1942

Chimes at Midnight
1965

Touch of Evil
1958

The Trial
1962

The Land of the Basques
1955

The Stranger
1946

Don Quixote
1992

Macbeth
1948

F for Fake
1973

Mr. Arkadin
1955

Othello
1951

The Hearts of Age
1934

Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
1958

The Immortal Story
1968

The Fountain of Youth
1958

It's All True: Four Men on a Raft
1986

Vienna
1968

It's All True
1993

Filming Othello
1978

Too Much Johnson
1934

The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles
2003

The Other Side of the Wind
2018

The Dreamers
1985

The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh
1984

The Deep
2007

The Merchant of Venice
1969

Hong Kong as seen by Orson Welles
1960

Moby Dick
2000

Orson Welles' Magic Show
1985

Filming 'The Trial'
1981

Twelfth Night
1933

London
1971

An Evening with Orson Welles: The Golden Honeymoon
1970

The Orson Welles Show
1979

Hopper/Welles
2020

Orson Welles' Sketch Book
1955

Orson Welles Talks With Roger Hill
2005

Moby Dick Rehearsed
1955
It's All True
1943
The Heroine
1967

The Lady from Shanghai
1947

Don Quichotte
1955
Orson Welles' F for Fake Trailer
1976